SC: Because the Supreme Court has ruled

[GK]

Because the Supreme Court has ruled that the prosecution in a job discrimination case must prove not only that the employer lied about the reasons for dismissal but also that those reasons were discriminatory, plaintiffs in such cases fear that they will have no higher court that they can appeal to when their cases are decided in lower courts.

a)
b) to which to appeal after their cases have been
c) for appealing if their case has been
d) to which they can appeal if their case is
e) that their cases can appeal, if they have been

I am so lost. I narrowed it down to A & B. But then what? Can you please explain?

Source: Princeton Review Online Test

[RonPurewal]

choices a and b are definitely the best of the lot, as there are clear grammatical problems with the other three (as it seems you've noticed).

two reasons to choose b over a:
- 'to which to appeal' is more concise than 'that they can appeal to', and avoids the unsightly presence of a preposition at the end. (note that, contrary to popular belief, there's no actual rule forbidding prepositions at the ends of expressions like these - but such constructions are still viewed as awkward in most written language)
- verb tense in choice b makes more sense, because the appeals process takes place only after the conclusion of the initial case. if you interpret choice a literally - and note that you must interpret gmat sentences literally - its meaning is that plaintiffs are appealing cases at the exact moment at which those cases are decided (that's what 'when' means).

[GK]

Spot on Ron. Thanks for the explanation. I keep forgetting that preposition at end is frowned upon.

[tanay-shah]

Ron could you please specify why Answer choice D is wrong.
Is it because the "to" and "appeal" have been separated ? Or is there some other reason?
I also felt that the use of "if" is awkward here since there is no conditional implication in the sentence....Please correct me if I'm wrong and clarify why was this option eliminated so bluntly.?

[tim]

d uses "case" instead of "cases". that's enough to eliminate it. be careful not to eliminate answer choices because something sounds awkward; there is almost always a solid grammatical reason to eliminate incorrect choices..